I thought he was pretty bad. I know he was out of position, but being out of position doesn't make you skate like you are in cement, doesn't make you lose every board battle, and make you flub every pass. I respect the guy, but no thanks.

I'd keep him. I'd probably make Dupuis a greater priority but they should do what they can to keep him too. They need to make him a mainstay on the top PP, for one thing, to get the most out of him. He's not the player he was but he's still quite productive.

Molinari's speculation is that he'll sign in Dallas but I don't buy it. Maybe if he is just looking to ride out how last few years into retirement but it appears that winning a Cup is a priority to him.

Henry Hank wrote:Molinari's speculation is that he'll sign in Dallas but I don't buy it. Maybe if he is just looking to ride out how last few years into retirement but it appears that winning a Cup is a priority to him.

if winning a Cup is priority for him then he won't be signing in Dallas. they have almost no chance of accomplishing that anytime soon.

I'd like a 3rd option please: sign him at a fair number for his expected contribution. Hard to give a take it or leave it answer without a cap hit number. For example, if the question were whether to sign him at or above Dupuis' market number, I choose let him walk.

I wondered if he had an injury that prevented him for being able to really rip the one-timer. If that is the case, you might bring him back and we can start wondering what he was doing not sitting out. If that injury doesn't exist, then the game has passed him by. Bravo on a great career.

The guy is not washed up. He's played 16 years of hockey with the same organization where he was used to playing a certain way. He showed up here, was completely taken out of his element and misused at every opportunity. Even then, was he not a factor on the scoresheet most nights?

I guarantee had Iginla played right wing on Crosby's line, we would be worried about not being able to afford him. As I mentioned in another thread, any coach worth his salt would have had Iginla playing with Crosby from the get go, knowing full on that you have a better chance of creating offense in the playoffs with those two as opposed to Crosby playing with Dupuis.

Last edited by Boogeyman on Mon Jun 10, 2013 12:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.

If Bylsma's gone, I'd hope to sign him for something like 2 years/$6 million. Big pay cut for him, but I think he realizes he's not the player he was and is smart enough to realize the cap is going down. If we do get him to sign, he has to be a staple on the top PP to give us a right handed threat. Why he was ever removed from there in favor of 4 left handed forwards and Letang is beyond me as that would have put him in the best position to succeed: no need to carry the puck or really dig in the corners, just make accurate reads and rip that one timer as often as possible.

Boogeyman wrote:The guy is not washed up. He's played 16 years of hockey with the same organization where he was used to playing a certain way. He showed up here, was completely taken out of his element and misused at every opportunity. Even then, was he not a factor on the scoresheet most nights?

I guarantee had Iginla played right wing on Crosby's line, we would be worried about not being able to afford him. As I mentioned in another thread, any coach worth his salt would have had Iginla playing with Crosby from the get go, knowing full on that you have a better chance of creating offense in the playoffs with those two as opposed to Crosby playing with Dupuis.

My only beef to all of that is Crosby broke his jaw a minute into Iginla's first game here.

Without hindsight, I would rather have a line that we know that works in Duper Sid Kunitz in the playoffs than going with something we think works.

The chance to finding out how the pieces would best fit went out the window on an Orpik slapshot from the point.

He has a cannon for a shot and he made a couple nice power moves to the net, but outside of that he just seemed out of it. He was slow, oh so slow. He couldn't make a pass to save his life. He missed one defensive assignment after another. He can't protect the puck on the boards.

I mean really outside the PP he is useless. No thanks. We can find better use of cap space.